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graylinesspam · 4 months ago

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ok i saw you reblog that drabble listing and when i read through it all i could think of was the domino squad with 21 and 57. feel free to use or disregard at your leisure 🤸‍♀️

#21 "We should have been in bed three hours ago"

Curfew in a camp on the front lines was not something that was loosely enforced. There were guard patrols, medics on their smoke breaks, COs in strange and unpredictable places, and the worst obstacle by far, snitches.

Getting out of camp was a perilous endeavor and not for the feint of heart. Fives just so happened to be an expert at the craft. He and Echo had been sneaking places they shouldn't be since before they were shipped off of Kamino.

Natural skill, ARC training, Vere and Ahsoka's super special stealth boot camp, and a whole lot of experience had made the two of them swift and silent. Always aware of their surroundings. always three steps ahead.

Tup on the other hand...well. He was still a little green. Him coming from a rather compliant batch had robbed him of the practice needed to acquire such a skill. And while he had subtly floated the idea past Ahsoka to include Tup and a couple of others in the next boot camp, he wasn't actually looking forward to that training.

Sneaking his favorite young soldier out of the camp would be the biggest challenge Fives had faced in his short career in stealth. But it was a challenge he was ready for.

The trick was timing. The guard rotation was more or less distributed evenly amongst the men, but that was relative to how much other labor they would be doing. Those with less duties outside of the camp had more guard rotations....that meant the scouts, who rarely left outside of scouting missions or active full scale assaults, made up the bulk of the guard at any given time. And while they were wildly observant. They were also so used to the rotation that their movement patterns had become a well tuned rhythm. He needed to wait for the first half of the guard change.

Actually making their way through the camp was much more nerve racking. Tup, bless him, was like the one cadet in the bunch that just never learned how to whisper. Always just a little too loud for their own good. Too stiff too. Half of the art of stealth was looking like you belonged wherever you were. And Tup looked like he was being marched to his death.

Every sudden intake of breath and crunch of his boot grated on Fives nerves. Echo brushed the back of his hand over Fives arm in a placating gesture. They were making slow time but working their way through the camp. All that was left was to make it across the empty perimeter and to the tree line where they could melt into the shadows. They needed to wait for the guard to pass before they could make a break for it.

All three crouched low beside a stack of crates and held their breath as the guard stepped up to a cobbled together vantage point made from crates. From his position he could see everything in the vicinity except for the troopers crouched directly below.

When his boots sounded their descent all three troopers sprung into action sprinting as quietly as they could across the perimeter.

Once past the trees there was a few precious hours of freedom waiting for them. They couldn't be out for long lest they risk someone discovering empty cots, but they had time to get a drink and let loose. Fives was over joyed to get the opportunity to corrupt the shiny.

There was a very verbally acknowledged rule among the clones about not being a damn snitch. Not all of their brothers had agreed on the finer details of that agreement though. Some condoned snitching if only to other clones, as if clone COs weren't as much of a pain as any other authority could be. And some, like Jesse's no good traitor ass, acted as a professional snitches to the medics for brownie points.

But the totally agreed upon rule, so obvious no words needed to be exchanged, was that if you catch someone breaking the rules, while your also breaking the rules, you keep your mouth shut. It was a naturally occurring case of Mutually Assured Destruction.

So for the few other troopers in various shades of armor that they passed in the medium sized village just clear of the front, they nodded their visors once in acknowledgment of that sacred understanding, and proceeded to mind their own business. What ever the red armored 104ths were up to was none of Fives' business. CO or not, he was not a damn snitch.

though it may have pleased him to see their body language turn stiff when he passed. Tup had to be verbally redirected from staring however. "They are none of your concern kid, eyes forward." Echo admonished.

They were here for a drink or maybe a few. Maybe a girl if they came across one. But they were not here for any gossip.

There was more than one bar in a town this size. The one they chose had another group of soldiers in yellow already crowded around their own table towards the back. the young faces peering skeptically at the ARCs in all their regalia.

Both he and Echo stepped up to the bar, pretending not to notice the grimace the bartender threw their way before he turned to serve the man ahead of them.

Tup was staring again, at the other soldiers, and Fives hand caught him around the back of the neck, turning him away. "Mind your own, vod."

They were served however reluctantly and they found a spot leaning against the far side of the bar where Fives could frequently have his cup refilled and he could playfully tap the bottom of Tup's glass whenever he tipped it back, forcing him to drink faster or risk spilling all over himself.

They kept to themselves, laughing, drinking, and having a good timing winding down after a hard week. Echo kept an eye on the chrono, his demeanor shifting as the minutes ticked by.

"We should have been asleep three hours ago." he says by way of urging them to wrap it up.

Fives sighed heavily before downing the rest of his drink, then finishing Tup's too. The other troops had already left and as they made their way through the town they noticed fewer soldiers already. They really had very narrow windows of time to play with.

Their camp was closer than others and they took their time strolling back towards the trees. He knew in his bones when the next guard rotation would be. Even without Echo's ability to tell the time by the triangulation of the moon's shadow based on the distance from the planet and the position of the planet within it's system. Fives just knew, he could feel it in his slightly pickled bones.

They would need to hide within the trees for a few minutes before they could make a run for it back into camp. Tup leaned heavily against a tree and rubbed a hand over his face as the alcohol swished around in his head. Getting his amateur ass back into camp would be the real challenge. That and trying to keep him from looking hung over in the morning.

Eventually he'd learn to keep up with his older brothers but he wasn't there tonight.

Even Echo seemed to be lagging behind as he shifted back into the trees towards town, his visor a little too tilted.

"Hey, wha-" Echo cut him off with a hand gesture before falling back into the circle of them. He made another gesture, one usually used by the scouts, indicating that they were being followed.

Fives reached for his blaster, falling back into the shadows of the trees. Echo melted in beside him, the two of them ready to take down whatever was tracking them. Tup, even drunk and shiny, crouched in his spot and cozied up to the tree to remain as obscured as possible.

There wasn't a crunch of a leaf, or a whisper of a step, but there was something. It was almost a soft scrape. A sound like metal caressing plastoid. Fives shot a questioning look to his brother before the sound got too close.

The rhythm was more familiar than the tone. A familiar cadence. a set of steps.

The reality dawned on him just as the figure broke through the shadows. Two watery and somewhat clouded eyes locked on his where he crouched.

Blue, usually quick as lightning almost buffered in thought as she slowly blinked. The gears in her head turning a little bit slowly.

Her mouth opened to speak but she quickly glanced towards the camp and thought better of it.

Ahsoka pursed her lips in thought before taking another step and crouching down in front of him. She mimed zipping up her lips and turning a key, then offered the same hand to him.

Part of him did not want to take this deal. He wanted to know where in the hell she'd been tonight. Why she didn't look sober. How in the hell she'd gotten out of the camp unnoticed.

For the first time in his life Fives felt the urge to go and snitch to Rex. To get the baby Jedi in trouble for her reckless and rebellious behavior. Before he could risk it all though, Echo took her hand in his and shook it firmly.

He then turned to his brother and fixed him with a meaningful look.

Echo was right. They were not snitches. They couldn't be. With as much mischief as they got into, if they were found to be snitching one time, they would get sold out faster than a food cart near the Couriscant barracks. They had too much of a reputation to uphold.

That and snitching on Ahsoka would lead to nothing but misery for them by her own hands. She may have been one of their closest friends but she was not a girl to be trifled with. Against his better judgement, Fives took her clammy hand in his and shook it once, firmly.

Tup rolled forward and gagged like he was going to vomit, but Echo had him back on his heels before he could blow all the money they'd spent on his drinks.

Fives shot Ahsoka a look that screamed that they would be discussing this later, and she raised a brow and the corned of her mouth in a taunt.

If they didn't have to get ready to run across the space into the camp this minute, he might have argued more.

For now, they just had to make it back in without getting caught.

Even Tup's dead weight was nothing with Ahsoka's help. They were all in bed with time to spare before Rex came to his cot to end his shift. She was back in the General's tent before Skywalker noticed she was gone.

Fives really didn't know how to feel about this. He was not used to being a good influence. He was by his own design the bad influence older brother. He got people into trouble, but not by being a snitch, by causing trouble and getting them mixed up in the middle of it.

Getting the Commander drunk is not exactly the kind of mischief he was interested in starting, but the idea of her getting drunk without him was even less appealing.

If Ahsoka was going to get in trouble he'd rather her do it with him than do it alone.

hmmm

maybe he'd just to commit to it then, being the one that sneaks out with her for a drink. But force save him, the trouble he'd get into if they were caught.....

ughhh, this was going to be a long day.

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@actuallybarb

hope this does it for you babe.

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